1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a software-defined network, more particularly to a method and system for supporting the mobility of a mobile terminal within a software-defined network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A software-defined network separates the control plane from the data plane and provides a protocol for communication between the two functions. Unlike the conventional method of IP-based routing, the paths of all packets may be determined by a controller, thereby enabling a more precise mode of traffic management compared to existing networks.
Also, since the routing paths can be easily altered by central control, the user can easily reflect the current network status or QoS policies, etc., in controlling the routing paths. However, the structure of a current software-defined network is centralized, so that there may be a high load burdened on the controller at the central location. To address this, DIFANE (distributed flow architecture for networked enterprises) was proposed to reduce the load on the controller and accommodate expansions. However, since DIFANE was proposed for enterprise networks, it is difficult to apply to mobile terminals, with which there are an extensive flow changes resulting from changes in position.